Actor Billy Porter says work is drying up for black and queer artists in President Donald Trump’s America, bizarrely claiming “fascists” in the United States are “attacking” the arts.
“Authoritarian governments go after the arts first, because the arts have the power to reach inside of people and change the molecular structure from the inside out,” Porter, who joined an anti-Trump “No Kings” rally at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, told Al Sharpton on MS NOW’s PoliticsNation.
The Cinderella star went on to claim that artists having this type of power “is dangerous for fascists — and they know it, and that’s why they attack us first” — an ironic sentiment, given that protesting one’s government is not an option while living under an actual fascist regime.
“It’s a new world order. We have a government who does not follow the rules — they don’t follow the laws,” Porter asserted, before saying that attending the No Kings protest “felt really great for me.”
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After being asked if the Trump administration’s impact is being felt in Hollywood and on Broadway, the 56-year-old actor replied, “Yes,” but qualified his answer by adding “it is a bit soon” for him to be able to fully tell.
“As a black, gay, out artist, I caught the wave of what we now know as performative wokeness,” Porter continued.
“I caught the wave of being in the center of that very progressive space, and I crashed through glass ceilings that were concrete,” he added.
Porter — who has estimated net worth of $1 million — went on to say, “I have noticed the opportunities slowly drying up for the work that I do,” before suggesting that “cop shows” are still produced while the type of projects he would be involved in are being sidelined.
“The Midwest CBS shows and the cop shows — all of that stuff still exists,” the Pose actor said. “But when it’s time to talk about heart, when it’s time to talk about connection, when it’s time to talk about people that don’t look like everybody else — there’s not a lot of that work going on right now.”
As Breitbart News reported, protestors took the streets on Saturday, sparking chaos in several cities across the United States.
In Los Angeles, a group of protesters who attended the No Kings rally completed the organized downtown march only to lay siege to the United States Courthouse just blocks from City Hall, throwing large chunks of concrete at Department of Homeland Security agents trying to protect the building from the mob of attackers.
Meanwhile, in Florida, leftists clashed with Trump supporters and aligned themselves with Antifa, a domestic terrorist organization.
In Pennsylvania, Breitbart News video producer Matthew Perdie was shoved and threatened while covering a No Kings protest, after he attempted to an elderly protester about the event. A man then stepped between the two, put his hands on Perdie, and threatened to kill him.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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